Co-digestion of molasses or kitchen waste with high-rate activated sludge results in a diverse microbial community with stable methane production.

Kitchen waste and molasses are organic waste streams with high organic content, and therefore are interesting substrates for renewable energy production by means of anaerobic digestion. Both substrates, however, often cause inhibition of the anaerobic digestion process, when treated separately, hence, co-digestion with other substrates is required to ensure stable methane production. In this research, A-sludge (sludge harvested from a high rate activated sludge system) was used to stabilize co-digestion with kitchen waste or molasses. Lab-scale digesters were fed with A-sludge and kitchen waste or molasses for a total period of 105 days. Increased methane production values revealed a stabilizing effect of concentrated A-sludge on kitchen waste digestion. Co-digestion of molasses with A-sludge also resulted in a higher methane production. Volumetric methane production rates up to 1.53 L L(-1) d(-1) for kitchen waste and 1.01 L L(-1) d(-1) for molasses were obtained by co-digestion with A-sludge. The stabilizing effect of A-sludge was attributed to its capacity to supplement various nutrients. Microbial community results demonstrated that both reactor conditions and substrate composition determined the nature of the bacterial community, although there was no direct influence of micro-organisms in the substrate itself, while the methanogenic community profile remained constant as long as optimal conditions were maintained.